The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the preparation of mixtures of pharmaceutical liquids, for example, infusion solutions, with storage containers containing at least two of the individual mixture components, a vacuum chamber to receive the container to be filled, and with a connecting hose for each storage container as well as a hose connected to the container and connected through a hose connection to the connecting tube of the storage container to be filled.
Preparations comprising several different components have to be mixed for the most diverse fields of application in medicine, especially for parenteral feeding in which the individual components often cannot be sterilized or prepared or stored together. For medical as well as practical reasons, a mixed administration is, however, still preferred. In many instances, it is therefore necessary to prepare the mixture in an additional container which actually means preparing a brand new medicine by the hands of a physician or pharmacist. When these mixtures are frequently used, it is often desirable to have them available in storage. It is obvious that this preparation of mixed solutions, such as, for example, mixed infusion solutions, generally penetrates the sealed system of the storage containers, which is most undesirable. The object is therefore to accomplish a virtually contamination-free preparation of such mixtures, i.e. a preparation without manual manipulation, with the individual components of the mixture having a predetermined proportion to one another.
The state of the art provides for the filling of sterile bag-like containers by pumping in the individual components. The filing amount is determined by the reference output volume of the pump. Additionally, the total mixture is weighed. In addition to the fact that such mixture preparation and filling methods do not meet present demands for rapid processing, the known arrangements are not sealed systems, and thus are not contamination-free. Furthermore, there is the danger of particles rubbing off from the pump hose. Finally, the dosage system of this apparatus regarding the individual components is not sufficiently reliable, depending solely on the total weight of the mixture. Thus, the individual components might not have the desired proportion to one another.
There is therefore an urgent need for an arrangement which allows extremely rapid filling of containers with a mixture of pharmaceutical liquids, precisely adhering to the predetermined amounts of the individual components, and being contamination-free in a virtually sealed system. By avoiding any handling of the arrangement and the containers during filling, it is possible to prepare such special pharmaceutical liquid mixtures to be used according to medical prescription, and to keep them stored by pharmacists, not by the manufacturers. The air inherent in the system and present, for example, in the racking hose, can be ignored.